G77 Chair Calls for Strengthening of ECOSOC

New York

Monday, November 11, 2013

Speaking in Fiji's capacity as Chair of the Group of 77 and China, Ambassador Peter Thomson called for strengthening of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) at the United Nations in New York today. He said the Group believes ECOSOC should play a pivotal role at the United Nations, especially in relation to the accelerated completion of the MDGs and the elaboration of the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

Ambassador Thomson called for ECOSOC to transform itself into "an issues-oriented, knowledge-based, stakeholder-friendly, intergovernmental body". He emphasised that the inter-related challenges of poverty eradication and sustainable development are at the heart of ECOSOC's mandate.

Fiji's Ambassador was addressing the UN's General Assembly, gathered today to debate the annual report of ECOSOC. He spoke directly after the presentation of the ECOSOC's report by the Council's President, and said the Group recognised the dynamic leadership of the President, H.E. Ambassador Néstor Osorio of Colombia.

Ambassador Thomson acknowledged the various high-level meetings that President Osorio had convened in 2013. He referred to the special high-level ECOSOC meetings with the Bretton Woods Institution, the WTO and UNCTAD, and the special meeting on external debt sustainability that had been attended by Fiji's Prime Minister, Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama, in order to deliver the concerns and recommendation of the Group of 77 and China.

Fiji's Ambassador called upon ECOSOC to strengthen its relations with other intergovernmental bodies, especially the newly established High-Level Political Forum. He said such strengthening would bring greater coherence to the work of ECOSOC and its many subsidiary bodies, thereby allowing it to effectively follow-up on agreed development goals and meaningfully respond to emerging global challenges.